Study suggests new helmets no better than leather

This helmet may be no safer than one made 100 years ago. (Matt Slocum/AP)

If you’ve ever laughed at old footage of football players in leather helmets, the Cleveland Clinic has news for you: Those helmets might be just as safe a the current models.

According to the Cleveland Clinic study, those new-fangled Riddell-type helmets are just as (in)effective as their leather predecessors at preventing concussions and other head injuries. In some cases, the leather helmets tested better than the new ones.

The researchers tested the impact of a range of ordinary hits that football players encounter every day which, some studies have shown, are just as damaging to player health as those highlight-making kill shots.

And, for the record, the Cleveland Clinic is no shoddy operation — it is considered one of the top four hospitals in the country by US News & World Report and boasts the No. 3 neurology department.

Although it is just one study, this is yet another piece of evidence in the growing case for increased safety when it comes to head injuries. And, for parents whose kids play football, this study certainly gives them something to mull over.